It created a pattern for arms makers to the British Army to follow, creating a standard weapon. Later the metal parts (furniture) were changed to brass and the wood ramrod which broke easily was replaced by an iron ramrod.Ībout 1722, the British Long Land Pattern musket was developed. It had a 46 inches (1,200 mm) barrel, iron furniture and the French lock (or 'true' flintlock) style of flintlock. Some of these have been found at Jamestown and Yorktown, Virginia by archaeologists.īetween 17 the first King's pattern musket called “Long Land Service” came into use. Another name for the dog lock was the English lock, and the gun was a Swedish styled musket. It was in use during the English Civil War and many found their way to the British North American colonies. This made the gun much safer to handle and load. Very similar to the snaphaunce it was the first to introduce the half-cocked position of the hammer. One of the earliest forms of flintlock musket used by the English Army was the 'dog lock'. The gun was commissioned during the reign of King George I of Great Britain, who was from Germany. While the origins of the name Brown Bess are uncertain, a plausible explanation is the name was based on the German Braun buss, meaning strong gun. The British tactic was to fire in vollies followed by a bayonet attack. Even at that range the gun was not particularly accurate.

Its effective range was about 100 yards (91 m) but in most battle situations the distance between forces was only about 50 yards (46 m). The Brown Bess was replaced after 1838 by smoothbore percussion cap muskets. It was one of the most important military firearms ever designed. They were the standard guns for all land forces in the British Empire.

The Land Pattern, or more popularly known as the 'Brown Bess', and its versions were all. The Brown Bess is a nickname for the British Short Land Pattern Musket.

Long land pattern brown bess